


Ducks to Water

by cosmic_llin



Category: The Worst Witch (TV 2017)
Genre: Established Relationship, F/F, Fluff, Remix, Teaching and Learning
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-06
Updated: 2020-11-06
Packaged: 2021-03-09 05:00:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,280
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27409219
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cosmic_llin/pseuds/cosmic_llin
Summary: Hecate and Ada disagree on the best way to handle a hot day.
Relationships: Ada Cackle/Hecate Hardbroom, Hecate Hardbroom & Mildred Hubble
Comments: 12
Kudos: 30
Collections: Hackle Remix Challenge Treats 2020





	Ducks to Water

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Cliotheproclaimer](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cliotheproclaimer/gifts).
  * Inspired by [Restricted Work] by [Cliotheproclaimer](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cliotheproclaimer/pseuds/Cliotheproclaimer). Log in to view. 



The cooling spell Hecate had cast the night before was just beginning to wane when she woke that morning, one arm around Ada’s waist, an indeterminate cat weighing down her ankles.

Usually she would consider a cooling spell frivolous and unnecessary, especially considering how much magic it required to last for the whole night, but this heatwave was really getting ridiculous. Even the thick stone walls of the castle, which normally kept the indoor temperature reliably stable, weren’t enough to keep the relentless weather at bay.

She’d cast the first one earlier in the week after half a sleepless night - the sheets damp and smothering, she and Ada far apart on the bed to avoid one another’s body heat - and hadn’t looked back since. 

It wasn’t as though it was only for comfort - neither of them slept well in these temperatures, and it was important that they should be working at peak efficiency for the important business of running the school. The fact that the spell allowed them to cuddle comfortably under soft, heavy blankets was neither here nor there.

After a few minutes of just lying there, enjoying Ada’s sleeping presence and the sunlight through the curtains, Hecate slid out of bed and went to brush her teeth. When she returned Ada was awake too, opening the window to take in a deep breath of the morning air.

‘It’s going to be just as hot today, I think,’ she said. ‘If not hotter.’

‘So the forecast said,’ agreed Hecate, selecting a sensible black dress from her wardrobe full of sensible black dresses. Miss Drill had been going around all week in shorts and a tank top. Hecate considered that letting the side down, although it  _ did _ look comfortable for the heat.

‘Hardly seems fair that the poor girls are suffering every night when we’re nice and cool,’ Ada said, although she didn’t sound particularly guilty about it.

‘Hardship is character-building,’ said Hecate, only half joking. ‘Besides, the spell is too complex for most of them to do by themselves, and the amount of energy it would take us to cover the entire school is certainly out of the question.’

‘I know, I know,’ said Ada. ‘Still, it would be nice to do something to give them a bit of a break. What’s that thing Mildred Hubble was talking about? Air conditioning?’

‘I gather it’s rather expensive,’ Hecate said.

She felt a prickling across her skin as the cooling spell finally gave up. Heat rushed instantly in, in spite of the early hour.

‘This place will be a furnace by afternoon,’ said Ada. ‘Perhaps we should give the girls the day off. They’re barely concentrating this week as it is.’

‘There are  _ exams _ coming up!’ Hecate said.

‘Well… a half day, then,’ said Ada. ‘Do you really want to spend your entire day trapped with a lot of grumpy teenagers in a small, hot room?’

When she put it like that, Hecate had to admit that she had a point.

‘Quite right,’ said Ada, when Hecate voiced her agreement. ‘We’ll keep it business as usual until lunchtime, and then let them loose to do whatever they like.’

‘Do… whatever they like?’ Hecate asked. ‘I thought perhaps we could provide a list of approved activities in designated areas... ‘

‘Or perhaps,’ suggested Ada gently, ‘we could let them sort it out for themselves?’

‘...unsupervised?’

‘Not entirely of course, we’ll make sure there’s always a teacher around if they need one. What’s the harm, eh?’

The very thought of every girl in the school running around wild set Hecate’s teeth on edge. ‘I just think their energy should be directed appropriately,’ she said, knowing already that she was losing the argument but not quite able to let go. ‘Left to their own devices they inevitably get into trouble of one kind or another.’

‘And how much better for them to get into minor trouble now and practice getting out of it under their own steam, than to find out once they’re grown up that they don’t know what to do when something goes wrong?’ said Ada gently. ‘Hecate, I appreciate your sense of discipline - goodness knows it’s paid off on plenty of occasions - but I think we’ll try it my way today, hm?’

‘I do see your reasoning,’ conceded Hecate. ‘I just…’

‘I know it makes you tense,’ said Ada. ‘Let them have this afternoon, and this evening I’ll help you relax?’

She stroked Hecate’s cheek with a single finger, the closest embrace that was reasonable with the heat pushing unstoppably into the room.

‘I like that idea,’ Hecate said.

* * *

It had, as expected, been quite a long day. When at last her bedtime rounds were finished, Hecate returned to their rooms to cast the cooling spell again, and then sank gratefully into Ada’s waiting arms. Ada nuzzled against her neck, then stopped and looked up at her.

‘Hecate, my love… I mean absolutely no insult by this but… why do you smell like a pond?’

Hecate sighed, and the face she was making must have been familiar to Ada because the moment she opened her lips to say the words “Mildred Hubble”, Ada was saying them along with her.

‘What happened this time?’ she asked.

‘She transferred into the pond by accident,’ Hecate explained. 

‘And dragged you in with her?’

‘In a manner of speaking.’

Ada was trying quite hard to look serious and concerned, but Hecate wasn’t fooled for a moment. When Hecate drummed her fingers crossly on her thigh, Ada’s laugh escaped, a joyous peal.

Hecate couldn’t help smiling a bit herself.

‘It’s no laughing matter, Ada,’ she said anyway. ‘It’s years before she should be learning to transfer. She’s going to get herself into trouble and I won’t always be there to help. What if it had been winter, and the pond half-frozen? What if she’d ended up on the roof, or in mid-air? She needs to just… control the impulse.’

‘How old were you when you first transferred without a potion?’ Ada asked, in her most deceptively innocent voice.

Hecate spoke through gritted teeth. ‘Eleven or twelve… I suppose. But I hardly want Mildred to follow my example.’

‘And how did you handle it?’

‘I didn’t,’ Hecate sighed. ‘I didn’t tell anybody, and it kept happening without my being able to help it, and in the end Miss Drill - senior, of course - found me out.’

‘And then what?’

‘And then… she taught me how to transfer short distances to safely release some of the excess energy, even though technically it was against the guidelines. Don’t look so smug.’

‘I’m not looking smug, I’m looking gently supportive.’

Hecate snorted. Ada was right, though - she’d felt less turbulent, less unsettled, once she’d learned how to channel her power. But was Mildred ready for that, or would giving her that much control just lead to bigger and more dangerous mistakes? It was so easy for teenagers to be reckless with magic, to get carried away. It was so easy for things to go wrong in ways that weren’t easy to set right.

‘I’m not going to tell you what to do,’ said Ada. ‘You’re her form mistress, this is your decision. But… think about it?’

The day had been long, hot and stressful. It was too much to decide right now.

‘I’ll think about it,’ Hecate promised.

‘Good,’ said Ada. ‘In the meantime… you do still smell quite pondy. Let me run a nice bath and we’ll forget about all our responsibilities, just for a little while?’

Hecate smiled at her. There was no forgetting their responsibilities, not really, but that still sounded like a lovely way to spend the evening.


End file.
